The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Canna, botanically known as Canna×generalis, hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Balcanyel’.
The new Canna is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in Emmet, Ark. The objective of the breeding program is to create new dwarf Canna varieties having many large blossoms of various shapes and colors; various foliage colors; and resistance to insect pests. The Canna cultivars will bloom prolifically and have self-cleaning blooms.
The new Canna originated from a cross made by the inventor in Tifton, Ga. in 2000, of the Canna×generalis, cultivar Picasso, a 1.5 to 1.8 m tall plant with green leavews and light yellow, 7.6 cm diameter blooms having densely scattered red stippling on the petaloid staminodia, as the female, or seed, parent. The male parent was Canna×generalis cultivar Liberty Yellow, a 0.9 to 1.2 m tall plant, with creamy-yellow, 7.6 cm diameter blooms having sparsely scattered orange stippling on the petaloid staminodia. Neither parent cultivar has been patented.
Compared to plants of the female parent, ‘Picasso’, the cultivar Balcanyel is dwarf being on average 60 cm tall rather than 1.5 to 1.8 m tall, has dark green slightly glaucous mature foliage rather than green foliage, has three racemes with 15-20 blooms rather than two racemes with 10-15 blooms, and has on average 11.4 cm diameter bright yellow blooms with sparsely scattered red stippling on the petaloid staminodia rather than 7.6 cm light yellow blooms with densely scattered red stippling on the petaloid staminodia. Cultivar Balcanyel sheds the old blooms from the racemes; whereas, the old blossoms of cultivar Picasso are persistent. The cultivar Picasso has severe Canna leaf-roller insect damage, but cultivar Balcanyel has only moderate leaf-roller insect damage.
Compared to plants of the male parent, ‘Liberty Yellow’, the cultivar Balcanyel is dwarf being on average 60 cm tall rather than 0.9 to 1.2 m tall, has dark green slightly glaucous mature foliage rather than green foliage, has three racemes with 15-20 blooms rather than two racemes with 10-15 blooms, has on average 11.4 cm diameter bright yellow blooms rather than 7.6 cm creamy yellow blooms, and has red stippling on the petaloid staminodia rather than orange stippling on the petaloid staminodia. The cultivar Balcanyel is more susceptible to Canna leaf-roller as exhibited by moderate damage rather than a slight level of damage for ‘Liberty Yellow’.
The cultivar Balcanyel was discovered and selected by the inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Emmet, Ark. The cultivar Balcanyel is perennial to Zone 7.
Asexual reproduction of the new Canna by rhizomes in a controlled environment in Emmet, Ark. has shown that the unique features of this new Canna are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.